Leveraging Open Standards and Credit-Card-Sized Linux Computers in Embedded Control & Robotics Education

Abstract

We present a new interdisciplinary educational program in multifunctional robotics built around three versatile vehicles – a mobile inverted pendulum (BeagleMiP), a four-wheelsteerable rover (BeagleRover), and a quadrotor (BeagleQuad) – all built around the TI BeagleBone Black (BBB), together with a new printed circuit connector board, or “cape”, designed specifically for multifunctional robotics applications. The program is coupled with a C library of key robotics functions, together with working example codes and educational materials, making it exceptionally easy to get started, and to extend. Volume 1 of the program targets embedded control & robotics education at the “maker” level, and is easily accessible in high schools and beyond. Building directly on Volume 1, Volume 2 of the program targets the “professional” level, building on knowledge of ODEs, dynamics, control theory, and op amps, and is useful in senior-level college capstone courses & industry. Prototype versions of BeagleMiP were used by the authors during the last three offerings of UCSD’s fall-quarter senior-level Embedded Control & Robotics course. The electronics used have evolved from an Arduino Nano and various small development boards, assembled on an 830-point solderless breadboard, to the powerful $50 BBB paired with our highly extensible robotics cape, which incorporates the commonly-needed additional electronics for many robotics applications, including an IMU, barometer, battery management, H-bridges, real-time clock with battery backup, and over a dozen convenient connectors, into a very small footprint. The best-practices programming techniques fostered by this program implement an advanced software architecture written in C, with different threads running at different loop rates and priorities. The resulting educational program will be commercially available soon, marketed in partnership with WowWee Robotics.